Smoebody is quietly snapping up better R.E. Halfs

coindeuce

I missed an opportunity over the weekend for a very nice 1837 PCGS AU-55, from forum member jom. It sold in less than one day on the BST. So I looked for an alternate buy, and found a tougher date, a 1836 PCGS VF-30 on eBay. The listing had a couple days remaining on it with a very fair price, with one prior user watching. I put it on my watch list while I asked the seller a question about the holder(cosmetic issue). Apparently the prior watcher got nervous, and took it for the BIN price before I even got the quick reply from the seller.
Makes me wonder if it was the same one who bought the AU '37 over here.

Edited to correct the date of the AU-55 coin.

LindeDad

So one person is going to corner the market or did maybe another person just sit on the fence too long?
How do you draw the conclusion that it is one person?

coindeuce

My only conclusion was that there was an unusual coincidence of purchases for two fairly expensive pieces from the short set of '36-39. I did not sit on the fence, as I only found them both over the weekend, and attempted to obtain either in short order. The '36 lasted less than an hour after I became the 2nd watcher.

jdimmick

Actually, seems to me that there have beem quite a few coming out as of late. I know a few years ago, it seemed like they were hard to find, then the past three months,

HLRC had two 36's , and several 37 /8 not to mention several on the board, and there were two 39-o's mentioned on the forum .

Plus, I went down to a friend of mine's ;ast month in myrtle beach, and he had like 2 of each of the dates from 36-38

also saw several at the charlotee show this weekend.

the flea market deale rhere in town has two reeded edge 37's.

Barndog

brand new, well-written book out on RE halves. I'm sure that's a factor.

g048406

I saw that 1836 PCGS VF-30. I don't think you missed much. The holder was all messed-up. Liberty's face was completely obscured by the holders damage. Another case of someone buying the holder and not the coin.
PS: $2950 for a VF-30 seems too high. JMO

keets

most of the time a coincidence(two things happening at the same time by accident which seem to be connected somehow) is just that, a coincidence. as real as it seems in your mind that someone is watching this site and eBay for these coins, it's more probable that neither buyer knew about the other.

Casman

<< <i>My only conclusion was that there was an unusual coincidence of purchases for two fairly expensive pieces from the short set of '36-39. I did not sit on the fence, as I only found them both over the weekend, and attempted to obtain either in short order. The '36 lasted less than an hour after I became the 2nd watcher. >>




Just curious but how did you know there was another watcher?

habaraca

For sure the book has sparked interest...

now is the time to cherry some rarer varieties..... just wish I was collecting when Overton first
came out with his book and Busties were ripe for the Cherry and VERY inexpensive in price......

Got a link to the ebay auction??

halfhunter

<< <i>I missed an opportunity over the weekend for a very nice 1838 PCGS AU-55, from forum member jom. It sold in less than one day on the BST. So I looked for an alternate buy, and found a tougher date, a 1836 PCGS VF-30 on eBay. The listing had a couple days remaining on it with a very fair price, with one prior user watching. I put it on my watch list while I asked the seller a question about the holder(cosmetic issue). Apparently the prior watcher got nervous, and took it for the BIN price before I even got the quick reply from the seller.
Makes me wonder if it was the same one who bought the AU '38 over here. >>



Please forgive my ignorance, but how does a buyer determine the # of watchers?
I've been buying dreck on e-Bay for years and never knew that one could do that.

TIA

HH

Unknown

This content has been removed.

coindeuce

<< <i>

<< <i>My only conclusion was that there was an unusual coincidence of purchases for two fairly expensive pieces from the short set of '36-39. I did not sit on the fence, as I only found them both over the weekend, and attempted to obtain either in short order. The '36 lasted less than an hour after I became the 2nd watcher. >>




Just curious but how did you know there was another watcher? >>



Because eBay now posts that right on the listing, near the top of the page. Not referring to a view counter either.
Posted much in the same fashion that Heritage does.

Realone - I agree, the new reference is increasing demand/awareness in the market. I've been working on the short set since way before the book was even dreamed of. The '37 in AU-55 that was on the BST had a special aesthetic appearance to me, thus my deep disappointment.

coindeuce

<< <i>I saw that 1836 PCGS VF-30. I don't think you missed much. The holder was all messed-up. Liberty's face was completely obscured by the holders damage. Another case of someone buying the holder and not the coin.
PS: $2950 for a VF-30 seems too high. JMO >>



Yes, that was the coin. I had asked the seller if they would consider getting the coin reholdered as a pre-condition. I was confident that the coin was wholesome under the cloudy surface, which was obviously external damage, but felt it was prudent to address the issue. As far as the price - I think you may want to review recent auction results and rethink that.

Manorcourtman

Anyone want to guess how many RE variety collectors there are??

coindeuce

<< <i>Anyone want to guess how many RE variety collectors there are?? >>



For those dedicated to assembling a set of the known die varieties of 1836-1839: presently no more than 50.
The set can be an obstacle just based on the price of common varieties listed for 1836 and 1839-O.

TomB

RE half dollars sell very quickly from my site, even if they are "only" the 1837, 1838 and 1839 issues. The 1836 coins on ebay had been there for a while, if I recall correctly. Many of the better die marriages are quite difficult to discern from ebay images, but I have been picking them off myself, too, for a while. Of course, I had the book on my desk for a long time.

ElmerFusterpuck

A question here, which do you think is the toughest to find nice out of the 1837 thru 1839 dates in nice VF-AU condition? The 1836 and 39-O reeded edge are tough no matter what, so I'll leave them out of the equation.

denga

I have not yet seen the new book on the reeded-edge halves of 1836-1839 but would assume that
it corrects the long-standing error in the Redbook about the 1836 issue being on the .900 standard
adopted in January 1837. The 1836 reeded-edge piece is in fact either a type coin or a major variety
as it is on the old 1792 standard, .8924 fine. In due course, when the Redbook sees fit to correct this
mistake – and thereby indicate that it is needed for a full type set, the 1836 reeded-edge half dollar
ought to go up significantly in value.

HalfCollector

<< <i>A question here, which do you think is the toughest to find nice out of the 1837 thru 1839 dates in nice VF-AU condition? The 1836 and 39-O reeded edge are tough no matter what, so I'll leave them out of the equation. >>



Hands down it is the 1838 GR-5. But I suspect, you are asking about the 3 years overall. All three are available in most any grade if you are looking for a nice type coin but the difficulty arises when you start to search for varieties of which several are very difficult to find nice in the mid circulated grades.

Due to the difficulty in interpreting and using Jules original Maual on the Reeded Half series, I would be very surprised if the number of collectors is anywhere near 50 and could possible not even be in double figures. In my 18 years of collecting the series, I have met but 2 and Jules is no longer with us. Much of this I think due to the fact that Overton and the BHNC did not include them in their realm of interest and therefore fell to the JRCS to include them, but no one pushed the series in that group due to the lack of a publication that made identification easier. Without a broad collector demand for more attention, the series languished and did not garner much collector interest. I hope this will change.

TomB

<< <i>I have not yet seen the new book on the reeded-edge halves of 1836-1839 but would assume that
it corrects the long-standing error in the Redbook about the 1836 issue being on the .900 standard
adopted in January 1837. The 1836 reeded-edge piece is in fact either a type coin or a major variety
as it is on the old 1792 standard, .8924 fine. In due course, when the Redbook sees fit to correct this
mistake – and thereby indicate that it is needed for a full type set, the 1836 reeded-edge half dollar
ought to go up significantly in value. >>



This chage is dirctly addressed in the book.

mkman123

I'm guilty! I still don't think I will try and get a 1836

LochNESS

Congrats on your newp, Gollem!

mkman123

My preciousssssssssss


Haha

AnkurJ

Very nice Mike! Congrats on your 1839o!

Casman

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>My only conclusion was that there was an unusual coincidence of purchases for two fairly expensive pieces from the short set of '36-39. I did not sit on the fence, as I only found them both over the weekend, and attempted to obtain either in short order. The '36 lasted less than an hour after I became the 2nd watcher. >>




Just curious but how did you know there was another watcher? >>



Because eBay now posts that right on the listing, near the top of the page. Not referring to a view counter either.
Posted much in the same fashion that Heritage does.



Can you link to an example of the watch counter?? I've looked and can't find it anywhere. Thanks

stinky2005

<< <i>Can you link to an example of the watch counter?? I've looked and can't find it anywhere. Thanks >>






I can't seem to find it either, but I am computer illiterate.

DuPapa

<< <i>

<< <i>Can you link to an example of the watch counter?? I've looked and can't find it anywhere. Thanks >>






I can't seem to find it either, but I am computer illiterate. >>



I don't have the feature either so I searched eBay answers and found this explanation...


Re:watchers Jan 30, 2013 07:04 PM That's a Beta page that eBay is trying out you can't get it by request-unfortunately. I've had that page twice now-once was 2 hours and more recently for 2 days then it disappeared again. I really liked it too but apparantly you just have to enjoy it while it lasts and hope you get it back again.

Manorcourtman

It's there sometimes!!

coindeuce

DuPapa - thanks for finding that. I was beginning to think I had hallucinated, and I haven't even eaten any mushrooms lately.

LochNESS

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>My only conclusion was that there was an unusual coincidence of purchases for two fairly expensive pieces from the short set of '36-39. I did not sit on the fence, as I only found them both over the weekend, and attempted to obtain either in short order. The '36 lasted less than an hour after I became the 2nd watcher. >>




Just curious but how did you know there was another watcher? >>



Because eBay now posts that right on the listing, near the top of the page. Not referring to a view counter either.
Posted much in the same fashion that Heritage does. >>



I'm not seeing this. I've looked multiple times, both logged-in and signed-out on other people's computers (to ensure my cache / cookies wasn't playing tricks on me).

NM. I knew I should've read more thoroughly before posting thanks for clearing that up guys

lkeigwin

<< <i>It's there sometimes!! >>


It is. I have seen it too. Seems rather hit or miss, though.
Lance.